Richard Steele and Joseph Addison establish The…

Richard Steele and Joseph Addison establish The Guardian on March 12, 1713; in the same year, Steele founds another short-lived periodical, The Englishman.

April 14 sees the first performance, in London, of Joseph Addison's libertarian play Cato, a Tragedy, which is received with acclamation by both Whigs and Tories.

It will be influential on both sides of the Atlantic.

Based on the events of the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95–46 BCE), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric and resistance to the tyranny of Julius Caesar make him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty, Addison's play deals with, among other things, such themes as individual liberty versus government tyranny, Republicanism versus Monarchism, logic versus emotion, and Cato's personal struggle to hold to his beliefs in the face of death.

It has a prologue written by Alexander Pope, and an epilogue by Samuel Garth.

The play is a success throughout England and her possessions in the New World, as well as Ireland.

It will continue to grow in popularity, especially in the American colonies, for several generations.

Indeed, it is almost certainly a literary inspiration for the American Revolution, being well known to many of the Founding Fathers.

In fact, George Washington will have it performed for the Continental Army while they are encamped at Valley Forge.